Mishpakha
by cateliot
Summary: After their first encounter, Tony searches for Ziva who has disappeared without a trace. Officially proclaimed dead, Tony isn't the only one searching for the Israeli beauty; Eli David, Mossad, and Somalian ghosts are after her as well. Will the two be reunited for a second chance or will the past keep them apart. A sequel to "Tateleh". AU and Tiva.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: All characters, cases, and locations belong to CBS and affiliates. This is the sequel to "Tateleh" and you do need to read that before this one. I had so many requests to continue the story and I've decided to. We just have a short chapter to start out so I can still see who's interesting. Please leave any feedback, if you love it or hate. Enjoy and please review.**

**This is the updated chapter. Please be sure to be updated with the story. CE**

"_Leon … Ziva was proclaimed dead in March. They never found her body in the Somalian desert." _

_*THREE MONTHS LATER*_

Caitlin Todd struggled heavily against her zip ties. The last thing she could remember was darkness and fuzzy. As she took stock of her surroundings, she couldn't see anything through her

"Let go of me. You have no idea who you're dealing with," she growled through the cloth on her head. The only response was a punch to the gut.

Gasping in pain, she tried focus her mind, just as Gibbs had taught her. What had she been doing? Where had they been? What could she observe?

Oh god, _Gibbs_.

Gibbs was going to kill her. Voices surrounded her, all in a different language, Hebrew or Arabic she thought, as they muffled through the bag on her head.

Nothing seemed to hurt like it was broken, but she couldn't be sure until she could actually see anything. She spit a piece of hair out of her mouth and tried to wiggle slightly.

She was definitely tied to a chair. A plastic chair, maybe? The zip ties pinched her skin and she felt a scratch bleed down her arm as she moved.

Gibbs was going to kill her for screwing this up. They were supposed to be tailing the subject, but her argument with DiNozzo had taken a turn for the worst and she had gotten out of the car to grab the guy too fast.

God, Rule 15, why did they always have to screw up?

There was some scuffling around and Kate moved to gain her footing. Just as she managed to get both feet on the ground, the bag was suddenly jerked off her face.

Black spots danced in her eyes as she found half a dozen faces peering down at her. The ugliest one kneeled down at her eye level.

"Just who might you be?" he growled threatening, his dark eyes dilating. Kate frowned and searched for an ally in the crowd. She found no caring eyes.

"Caitlin Todd, NCIS. My team and boss know I'm here. If you do anything to me, they'll kill you," she rattled off immediately.

The man chuckled and stroked his stubble amused. He straightened up and caressed the gun at his side. He barked an order at the rest of the group and a few dispersed.

He was in the center of what looked to be a run down, nasty apartment kitchen. High tech laptops and heavy gunnery sat on the table. The other men surrounded her, all seeming to be around thirty or older in military grade clothing or camo.

"Is that so?" he said, sitting down leisurely in one of the chairs, twirling a hunting knife he had picked up from the table.

"Well, we've noticed you hanging around, Caitlin. It seems that stealth isn't one of your team's strengths." There was vain laughter with that.

"We're caring for precious cargo you see, Agent Todd and Mossad takes their missions very seriously, you see, and you're interring. We can't have that," he continued.

Fear frizzling into her spine and she quickly realized that this man was very serious.

"My team and I aren't looking you or your mission, we're looking for whoever murdered the two petti-officers and the man they were escorting from the embassy," she said quickly, her tongue feeling like cotton in her mouth.

The man seated in front of the computer called out the lead man and Kate tugged in vain at her restraints.

The man nodded and stood.

"NCIS is it?" he said dismissively. "Is that some sort of baby FBI?"

He took another step forward before-"Caitlin?"

A thin, Israeli man appeared from the back. Kate immediately recognized him.

"Ari?"

The Israeli looked at her, surprise echoing off his handsome features. "Caitlin? What are you doing here?" he said his words heavily accented.

"What … what's going on? You're not supposed to be here? I thought you and Ziva went to Paris. We were looking for the Black Snake Cartel…"

She caught sight of the heavy set older man that had been with the party the last time they had been in the bullpen, Hadar was his name.

"Aren't you supposed to be in Paris?"

There was a short heated conversation between Ari and the other man that Kate tried in vain to follow before giving up. The Hebrew she had learned from her short time in Tel Aviv wasn't sustaining her in this situation.

"Caitlin, what are you doing here? Who sent you?" Ari asked urgently. "Was it my father? Gibbs?"

Before Kate could answer, there was a sharp command from in back of the room that was immediately obeyed. The group parted like the Red Sea as a tiny, young woman stepped forward.

She looked ill and thin, shadows were evident under her large brown eyes. She wore a too big black jacket and heavy army boots.

"Ziva?"

Kate blinked quickly from the girl to her brother.

"Where the hell have you been? Tony's been freaking out for months about you. He's been calling and calling…"

The girl sighed heavily and ran a hand through her wild curls. "I know," she said, her Hebrew accent more noticeable than the last time they had met. "You do not understand, they … they've come for me."

"What do you mean they're coming for you?" Kate said as an electric shock ran through the men in the kitchen. Their whispers in Hebrew got louder and caught Ari's attention.

Ziva didn't move from her position standing in front of the NCIS agent, allowing Kate to get a good look at her. She looked different than the last time they had encountered, Ziva all dressed up in black lace after she and Tony had been undercover. She had been beautiful and sexy, smoky and couture.

Not she just seemed dead.

There were deep sunken bags under her eyes. She wore cameo pants that obviously weren't hers and a large long sleeved shirt that was three sizes too big for her under her black jacket that hung off her thin frame.

She had lost weight she didn't have since the last time Kate had seen her, any more she noted and the girl would cease to exist.

There was a sharp click and Ari stood back from the table with a large metallic gun at his side.

"We have to leave," he announced sharply. "Now."

Ziva's head turned to look at the rest of the group who was assembling similar weapons. The man who had previously been in Kate's face handed her two guns and the girl took them without question.

She simply looked tired.

Then the man turned to look at Kate in distaste. "What about this little bird?" he asked Ari, pulling on a bulletproof vest. "Should we cage her?"

Kate's heart beat a little faster and she glanced over at Ari hopefully.

"You cannot kill her. She's one of Tony's people," Ziva interrupted, accent loud and clear. All the men turned to look at her, but she ignored them, turning to her brother with big brown eyes. "Ari?"

"She's with me," Ari said, begrudgingly, slicing through the zip ties binding her ankles in one move with a large hunting knife. "I'll look after her. I'm sure she knows her way around one of these," he said, handing her back her gun.

Kate glared at him, but cocked the gun, rubbing her wrist to try and take away the stinging.

"What's the plan?" she asked immediately as the others around her moved in sync. She felt vaguely out of the loop. "What are we even looking at? Assassination team? Hostage control?"

Ari gave a harsh laugh as the men continued to pack their things and move through the house, creeping around the floorboards and checking through the cracks in the windows.

"Not an assassination team, no, something much worse. We'll stay here and try to make it out of the back bef—"

Ari's instructions were cut off by the doors and siding of the house exploding with bullet holes. Blood splattered all over Ari and Kate before he could finish. Glass from the windows shattered loudly and gun fire commenced.

Shouts in Arabic and Hebrew echoed in the small, dingy house. The small party was clearly unprepared for the onslaught outside.

Kate felt Ari's warm back press her back toward a more defensive position. They fired off rounds through the now glassless windows as bodies in the kitchen fell.

"Tateleh! Run!"

Ziva looked over at her brother from her defensive position in the kitchen as glass exploded over their heads. Their eyes met for a brief moment, before the girl dashed into the gunfire, disappearing into the night.

Kate wondered if she would ever see her alive again.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: All characters, cases, and locations belong to CBS and affiliates. This is the sequel to "Tateleh" and you do need to read that before this one. I had so many requests to continue the story and I've decided to. We just have a short chapter two to start out so I can still see who's interested in the plot. Please leave any feedback, if you love it or hate. I have some ideas where this plot could go so feedback would be really helpful. Enjoy and please review.**

**This is the updated chapter. Please be sure to be updated with the story and the first chapter. CE**

As the seconds and minutes blurred as the gunfire echoed in her head, Kate felt Ari pull her away towards the back of the house, the way Ziva had run.

Allowing him to lead, she found herself exiting the blood stained house into the woods near the cottage.

"You … you've been hit," Kate said as she and Ari climbed into a car parked not too far away near a paved road. Ari grunted in response as he hotwired the truck. "Just a graze," he said as the engine revved.

The bullet had grazed his upper arm, though he didn't seem to notice as he tied a piece of cloth from the bottom of his shirt to stem the bleeding.

"We need to get back to NCIS, file a report," Kate said automatically. "Where did your sister go? She could be injured. What about the other men?"

Ari drove in silence, turning twice right to find a freeway, and Kate felt a flicker of frustration enter her system.

"Damn it! Say something!"

Ari smirked. "So many questions, so many things you think we must do. Do just relax Caitlin. This is not some investigation. This is not by the books. Welcome to Mossad where things are about life and death, about getting far away from the people who just tried to put nine rounds in us. _Welcome to hell_."

Kate ran a hand through her hair, feeling knots and sticky sweat and blood mixed in it. She huffed. Settling back in the leather seat of the truck, she turned to look at the man beside her.

She noticed the way his face made a smooth transition from his cheek to his nose and curved again down to his nose and back around to his neck, the way his eyes checked every inch of the road with such accuracy, and yet his face was expressionless and smooth.

She tore her gaze off him and forced herself to focus.

"Who were those men coming after you? Was it other Mossad officers? Why would they try and kill you though? I thought you and Ziva were the kids of the Director?"

"Do not mistake blood relation for family, Agent Todd."

Kate blinked at the change in tone, but didn't remark on it. "You need to tell me what's going on."

"Trust me when I say that you do not want to become a piece in this game, Caitlin," he said, changing lanes. Kate

"You're going to answer my questions.

Ari's eyes flickered over the glock and then moved back to the road.

"Who were those men shooting at us?" she snapped.

"Ghosts of the past," he said shortly.

The gun moved closer to his ribs. And then he smiled. Kate frowned. "They were terrorists from the coast of Somalia, looking for Ziva."

"Why?"

"_Why_?" he repeated, a quirk appearing in his eyebrow.

"Yes, why," she said,

"Why does anyone chase anything?" Ari said. Catching Kate's confused look he continue, "my sister escaped one of their terror camps she infiltrated and now their leader's after her. Revenge I suppose. A final encounter since he was unable to break her."

"That's why you're running."

"Perhaps."

Kate dropped the gun back to her lap and leaned back against the leather, feeling her heart rate slow.

"Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you back to your family at NCIS."

_*NCIS*_

Probationary Agent Timothy McGee was panicking. His fingers sped across the keyboard, desperately trying to locate his missing partner and friend.

"Any news yet probie?"

He shook his head. "Nothing yet. Can't find anything form her cell or PDA. It's like she's off the grid."

The senior agent continued to paced agitated and groaned. He looked exhausted and sleep deprived. His suit was wrinkled and his hair messy and nasty. However, his appearance was nothing compared to attitude.

"Come on, aren't you supposed to be good at this thing, McGenius? You can't even find your own keys."

"It's your fault, Tony, if you hadn't been arguing, she wouldn't have gotten out of the car," McGee snapped.

"Shut it, McTattle," DiNozzo growled, eyes like slits.

There was the sound of a hand hitting flesh and McGee didn't bother looking up, as the familiar "thanks boss" quickly followed.

"What do we have?" Gibbs said shortly, turning to look at the two.

McGee suddenly stood. "Boss!" McGee said, pointing as the elevator closed and the two walked in. His eyes were wide at the blood splatter on her face and the blood soaked through Ari's shirt. The Probie immediately hung up the phone and rushed towards the two.

"Oh god, Kate, thank goodness. Are you all right?"

"Kate?" Gibbs appeared with DiNozzo behind him.

Gibbs was immediately as her side, cutting in front of McGee, hand touching the cut on her cheek, examining him.

"I'm fine, Gibbs, seriously. It's just a scratch," she assured him, sitting on the edge of her desk, feeling the exhaustion set in from the last few hours.

"Ari?" DiNozzo said, confused, looking from Kate to the Mossad Agent. "What's going on? Is Ziva with you?"

"You," Gibbs said, turning around, eyes zeroing in on the blood soaked Mossad Agent. The gray haired man moved towards the younger man and marched offensively close. "Why am I not surprised this is your fault." Ari raised an eyebrow, leaning on one of the putrid orange columns, unconcerned.

"Agent Gibbs, good to see you again," he said pleasantly.

"Gibbs, it's not Ari's fault. He's the reason I ever got out of there alive…" Kate began quickly, but Ari waved her down nonchalantly.

"Please, Caitlin, Agent Gibbs does not like Mossad and I can understand why. I have safely return your agent, who should be dead with a bullet in her head right now without my assistance, I might add, so if you will excuse me, I need to go and find my sister," he said, turning to walk towards the elevators.

DiNozzo looked imploringly at Gibbs. "Boss…"

"Ari—wait!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note****: All characters, cases, and locations belong to CBS and affiliates. This is the sequel to "Tateleh" and you do need to read that before this one. I had so many requests to continue the story and I've decided to. I've been really surprised by the interest and follows on this story. Sorry for the delay in chapters: I've been battling AP classes, medical problems, and knee surgery, but here's chapter three. Please leave any feedback, if you love it or hate. I have some ideas where this plot could go so feedback would be really helpful. Enjoy and please review.**

_**Chapter Three**_

Ari watched passively as Kate cleaned the wound on his shoulder and gently applied a gauze wrapping. Her hands shook slightly as she saw how deep the bullet had grazed and his lack of react as she tightened the tape around it.

They had found the morgue empty with Ducky and Palmer away at another crime scene. Gibbs had tasked McGee with locking all the doors and closing the hall to guests. This seemed to settle the shifty Mossad agent who then climbed onto one of the tables and allowed Kate to look at his wound.

"Why are you here?" Gibbs demanded, leaning on the side of wall, watching carefully the encounter between the two agents.

Ari didn't answer and instead kept watching Kate's movements as she cleaned the supplies. He slowly and deliberately re-buttoned his shirt before turning to look at Gibbs with passive eyes.

"I'm returning your agent to you."

Gibbs' eyes hardened. Tony opened his mouth, only to be silenced by a glare from Gibbs. "If you want our help you need to be straight with me, Ari. Why are you still in the country? The Director told you to return to Mossad, to Israel."

A cruel smile lit the man's face.

"Hadar and I took Ziva halfway to Paris before we were followed. We had no choice than to change our course of action. You understand, of course," he inclined his head.

"Why didn't you call your Deputy Director?"

Silence radiated out from the room and Ari's eyes were cold, hard, ugly.

"Just who are you running from?"

Kate broke the silence, looking from Gibbs to Ari and back. "The men shooting at us were middle eastern, just not Israeli. They knew exactly how to assault a house full of agents. Jordan, Egypt, maybe, Palestine, or—"

"Somalia," Gibbs supplied as Ari's eyes met his. "This is about her mission with the terrorist cell. They've come after her."

"Where's Ziva?" Tony demanded, finally, ignoring the look Gibbs threw at him.

"She ran," Ari said simply as if that explained everything, not looking at the ex-cop. "You won't be able to find her unless she wants to be found."

"You were supposed to be watching her, looking after her. After two months, she stopped answering my calls, my emails, nothing. It's like she dropped off the earth. What happened?" Tony exploded. He ran a hand agitatedly through his already messy hair.

Ari moved too quickly for Tony's mind to register. Suddenly a gun was pressed against his throat and his back was pinned against the cold autopsy wall.

"Let him go!" Kate shrieked, her hand hovering over her gun.

"You know nothing of what it is to be someone like Ziva. You think you are brave, an NCIS agent with your gun and badge, fighting off the evils of the world. It's like a joke the things you have seen compared to the horrors we have seen."

"Drop the gun, Ari," Gibbs said, leveling his gun the Mossad operative.

"She's been an assassin since eleven. She's had a target on her back since she was a child. Do you think a slight flirtation with you is going to save her? I told her to run, DiNozzo. And Ziva is the one person I know who can run away and disappear."

"I could have protected her," Tony grunted, attempting to move back to his feet as Ari watched him with an intensity in his eyes that Gibbs didn't like.

Ari released him and Tony slid down the wall. Gibbs lowered his weapon halfheartedly and McGee followed him.

"No one can protect her, Agent DiNozzo, least of all you."

_*NCIS*_

Ziva David had been trained to be an assassin since she was eleven. Most girls at that age had wanted a pony. She had too. Instead she had gotten a gun. Her little pale hand had curled around the glock, feeling the cool metal and looking up at her father's intently watching eyes.

"Yom hu'ledet sameach, Zivaleh," he said quietly.

Since that day, she was trained to kill.

She kept her pace steady, somewhere between a walk and a job as she moved around the crowded D.C. which bumping into a single person on the sidewalk. Her mind was spinning with a million possibilities of plans, actions, tactics, but she pushed them all away and focused on her breathing.

She did what she was trained for.

She focused on staying alive.

When she had heard her brother call out during the fire fight she knew she had to leave. Making it out was the easy part, until she clipped in the side by a stray bullet. The stinging in her side had slowed her down significantly on her run down the hill near the house and once she made it to the city, she had stolen a large coat off a man's chair at an outdoor restaurant to cover up the suspicious blood soaking her shirt.

Only a few hours and many miles later, she was feeling the blood loss invading her headspace.

"Ziva David is not afraid," she muttered in Hebrew to herself, a mantra that used to make her feeling better, as she scanned the areas around as she moved, looking for anything out of place, anything that could be a sign of her assailants.

She would have to stop soon, to assess the damage and conserve some energy and as night was falling, her time to move without being spotted would be limited until the early hours of the morning.

She was approaching the parking lot of the largest bank in the city. If her mind was serving her right, behind a brick on the second floor there was a stash of money and a set of keys for an apartment. A safe house to hide out in.

A hideyhole.

Her unit had hidden them every all over all the countries they had contact in. The Kidon Unit, they were called, the best set of mixed matched assassins and handlers the world had ever seen.

Her heart thumped uncomfortably at the thought at part of her team left in the safe house in the wake of firefight, but she pushed the thought away as soon as it came.

Her side was beginning to throb uncomfortably and as she applied light pressure the throbbing grew into a burning fire. Her fingertips came away bloody.

"Focus Ziveleh," she scolded herself, as she climbed the second set of ugly concrete stairs in the bank's underground parking. She rounded the corner slowly as her large brown eyes caught a smear of movement in her side vision. Her hand found the handgun in the waistband of her pants, cold and hard in her hands.

She was being followed.


End file.
